Primary Pupils‟ Use of Social Media to learn ESL
Teoh Ci Xin1, Melor Md. Yunus2

1Teoh Ci Xin*, Research Student at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
2Dr Melor Md Yunus, Associate Professor and Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Manuscript received on September 16, 2019. | Revised Manuscript received on 24 September, 2019. | Manuscript published on October 10, 2019. | PP: 2076-2080 | Volume-8 Issue-12, October 2019. | Retrieval Number: L32721081219/2019©BEIESP | DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.L3272.1081219
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: The next generation of school-going pupils of elementary level will soon be made up of children from generation Alpha, born from the year 2010 to 2025. These technology-savvy young children will soon be dominating the classrooms demanding for digitalised instructional experiences. Technology-infused learning experience has been a prevalent concept in the education field in recent years. Many studies have been carried out to explore how social media and technology assists second language learning in the contexts of secondary and tertiary education. However, little is known about how elementary pupils learn English as a second language (ESL) using social media platforms, primarily in the Asian context. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate how Chinese primary school pupils learn English on social media. Drawing on the original data from a questionnaire survey and document analysis, the findings revealed that the research participants lack the experience of learning English on social media sites although they have access and the necessary competency in handling those sites. The implication derived from this study is that it would be advisable for teachers to steer and plan suitable instructional practices on social media platforms for elementary aged ESL learners in line with their learning preferences and needs.
Keywords: Social Media, English as a Second Language (ESL), Primary School
Scope of the Article: Natural Language Processing